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ATF Responds to Tripoli and NAR Civil Complaint |
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2000 Archived News by TRA/NAR Joint Task Force
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Friday, May 12, 2000 |
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WASHINGTON, District of Columbia USA — After a three week extension, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) filed a motion to dismiss the four count civil complaint filed against ATF on February 11, 2000 by the Tripoli Rocketry Association (TRA) and the National Association of Rocketry (NAR). In this latest action, posted on Friday May 5, 2000, ATF has moved to dismiss the case on three grounds, all of which were anticipated by our legal counsel.
First, they claim that we are not entitled to sue ATF over the explosives list because ATF is not required to issue the list in proposed form for public comment before it is issued in final form. Second, they claim that the list was first published in 1971 and has not changed (at least in so far as APCP) since then. Accordingly, they claim we are barred by the statute of limitations (six years) in bringing this lawsuit even though we are only challenging the 1999 list. Third, ATF claims to still have our letter of September 7, 1999 under "reconsideration."
Our attorneys are preparing a counter motion which will be filed no later than Friday, May 19th. As soon as our counter motion has been filed, we will post the text of that at our association's web sites. The next step is likely to be a hearing before the Federal District Court, but the timeframe and scheduling of such hearings are highly variable. As we have more information to share with you, our members, we'll continue to pass it along.
We thank the many individuals in both organizations who have generously donated funds to see this through. We hope those offerings of support will continue. Your support makes the effort possible.
Bruce E. Kelly
Tripoli President
Mark B. Bundick
NAR President |
